What you need to know
- A Twitch breach could spell big trouble for Amazon's streaming platform.
- The leak includes the entire source code for Twitch as well as personal information including streamer payouts.
- Twitch has confirmed the reports but you should probably change your password and make sure 2FA is on.
Update: Twitch has now acknowledged the breach, saying it is working with "urgency" on the matter on social media.
We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us.We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us.— Twitch (@Twitch) October 6, 2021October 6, 2021
Original post: Things could be about to get real messy for Twitch. The Amazon-owned streaming platform is the target of an alleged hack, leak, whatever you want to call it, but the end result is the same. A 125GB torrent of, well, everything that is Twitch has been made available on the shadier parts of the internet that could spell big trouble not only for Twitch, but for many attached to the platform.
https://t.co/7vTDeRA9vt got leaked. Like, the entire website; Source code with comments for the website and various console/phone versions, refrences to an unreleased steam competitor, payouts, encrypted passwords that kinda thing.
Might wana change your passwords.https://t.co/7vTDeRA9vt got leaked. Like, the entire website; Source code with comments for the website and various console/phone versions, refrences to an unreleased steam competitor, payouts, encrypted passwords that kinda thing.
Might wana change your passwords.— Sinoc (@Sinoc229) October 6, 2021October 6, 2021
The files that were made available through 4Chan have not been verified as authentic, nor has Twitch officially acknowledged the alleged leak, but if the data is legit, hoo boy. A company source speaking to VGC has though said it's the real deal.
Not only is personal information in there, including user passwords, but also payout information for Twitch's top earners (tl;dr they're making millions as if you didn't already know that) and, more troublingly for Amazon at least, the entire source code for the platform.
Also surfacing as part of this leak is an Amazon-made Steam competitor that never saw the light of day. We're sure to hear much more on this if indeed it is a legitimate dump of Twitch data, but for now, you should probably protect yourself.
If you have a Twitch account, now is a good time to head on over, change your password, and make sure you have two-factor authentication (2FA) turned on. We'll update as and when Twitch comments on the leak.
